Culturcide
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Culturcide was a Houston-based experimental punk band, active from 1980 to 1990. They were notorious for their album Tacky Souvenirs of Re-Revolutionary America, which earned the band a cult following, but also several legal threats.
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[edit] Members
Perry Webb (founding member); Jim Craine (founding member), (1980-82); Dan Workman (from 1980); Ralp Armin (from 1982).
[edit] History
Culturcide's first single, "Another Miracle"/"Consider Museums as Concentration Camps", was issued in 1980, unsupported by any live appearances. However demand grew for the band to perform, and this they did, relying on banks of portable cassette recorders to provide their samples. this was enough of a success for their debut LP Year One (1982) to be composed entirely of live material. However, Craine left the band after the album's release.
[edit] Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America
In 1986 the band released their most famous work. Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America comprised 14 tracks of the band's satirical lyrics overdubbed onto popular songs by the original artists. For example, the Beach Boys' California Girls was turned into "They Wish They All Could Be California Punks", a sideswipe at unoriginality in Punk Rock. There were also overdubs of tape loops and other sound effects. The lyric sheet carried the message "Home-taping is killing the record industry, so keep doing it."[1] The backing tracks were used without permission and the band soon faced legal threats from some of the original copyright holders.
The album was listed in the British New Musical Express yearlist for 1987.[2]
[edit] 1990s
Despite the band's new-found cult status (which led to tours of the US West Coast and even Europe), financial and intra-band problems led to a split in 1990. One problem was that most record labels shied away from releasing their material after Tacky Souvenirs.
However, in 1993 the band reconvened to work on a new album, Short CD (1995). Home Made Authority followed in 1998.
[edit] Discography
- 1980: "Another Miracle"/"Consider Museums as Concentration Camps" (7" single)
- 1981: Reset split LP with Hiroshima Chair; most of Culturcide's material later appeared on Year One.(Dogfood Production System)
- 1982: Year One (LP)(CIA)
- 1986: Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America (LP)(no label)
- 1991: "A Day at My Job"/"Mommy and I Are One" (7" single)(Nuf Sed)
- 1995: Short CD (CD)(Double Naught)
- 1998: Home Made Authority (CD)(Delayed)
- Undated: "Santa Claus Was My Lover"/"Depressed Christmas" (7" single)
- Undated: split single with Caroliner Rainbow; two untitled tracks. (7" single) (cover states - "Collector's item! First 250,000 pressed on black vinyl")
[edit] Compilation appearances
- 1982: "Disco" on cassette Endzeit (Datenverarbeitung)
- 1984: "Beastiality and Sex" on 4-cassette compilation of the same name (Bain Total).
- 1988: "Industrial Band" on the cassette Songs I Like to Sing (Statutory Tape).
- 2002: "They Aren't the World" on Illegal Art Exhibit CD (Illegal Art)
- Undated: "Atomic Bomb" appeared on cassette compilation The Dog That Wouldn't Die.
